Thursday, March 20, 2008

Grapevine cardigan (cont.)

First off, I must admit that I really like this pattern! The detail is amazing!

I've decided to do a swatch for each pattern posted in the pattern though, as I've been finding some mistakes in it. (I did contact the designer, and she apoliguised and is quite pleased that someone is working on her design and took the time to advise her - she actually incorporated 2 different designs into this one sweater - hence the mistakes.)

Anyway, this is just a swatch of the 'grapevine' pattern. I swatched an entire pattern (over 32 rows), then did 22 rows more, as there was a mistake in the beginning of the pattern and I just wanted to make sure my 'correction' worked.

grapevine swatch

I finished the 'leaf & cable' border (the bottom edging of the sweater), and have now picked up 245 sts on said border. Now comes the fun part!

This sweater is worked over 245 sts. It has a grapevine pattern (as shown worked over 25 sts), a Framed Cable pattern (worked over 16 sts), a Mock Cable pattern (worked over 3 sts) and a Moss st - and each of these are done numerous times throughout each row!

WHEW, wish me luck!

I'll update in 1 week!

BTW, Happy Easter!

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Grapevine Cardigan

OMG, I don't believe I'm going to do this one.
(Especially since I've found mistakes just in the very first section of this project!)
Oh well, that happens.

Here is the image for the sweater.

Grapevine Cardigan sweater

I'm not going to do the grapes in a different color though, and I'm using a 'sable' color instead of green.


Now, I started the bottom border of the sweater last night. On the 2nd row, there was a mistake! Ok, it wasn't very hard to figure out the correction, though, so I kept going. Then, on row 18 of this 36 row pattern repeat, there is another mistake! So, I get out the trusty pad of paper and get to work figuring out the pattern. Get back to knitting and after I get through the entire pattern once, once I started it again, I thought, ok, I just made another mistake.... what happened here??? So, after going over the pattern a bit, I figured out that the pattern cable got repeated in rows 19-36. The cable should have been reversed, otherwise why are there rows 19-36??? If they weren't reversed, the pattern repeat should have ended at row 18!

ARGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, after all the cables and such, I just pulled the work off the needles and started over. What a waste of a couple hours....

Anyway, I've been working on the 'corrected' pattern today.

Every 2 leaves is one full pattern repeat! To view it closer, see this:

Grapevine Cardigan border


I'll keep you posted on my progress.

(BTW, I like this pattern especially because I just finished a hat & scarf "blackberry" set that also had grapevines on it.

:o)

Friday, March 7, 2008

I've been working on a couple baby sets this past month or so.

The first one I finished is for my sister-in-law who is expecting her first child in a couple weeks. I made her an 'rippled eyelet' sweater, hat and bootie set. I have not blocked it out yet, so please remember that this image is not blocked!

Ripple Eyelet Baby set


The other set I've just finished is 'Sherbet Baby' set that I've done for a friend who is also expecting her first child. I found this pattern and fell in love with it. Even though the pattern stated 'Easy**' I was willing to do it, but got discouraged upon working on it when I discovered 2 mistakes in the pattern. When I found the first one, I wrote in via the 'contact us' feature and advised them of the mistake I found. On the contact page, it said a reply would be within 48 hours or so. No response. Anyway, I figured out what to do to correct the mistake and continued on, until low and behold, there was not only another mistake, but it was on a row that was not even completely explained!!! Now, this pattern was marked Easy** , so I assumed any stitches that were more complex that straight knit or purl would be explained in a little detail (maybe with an 'abbreviations' blurb at the bottom of the pattern... but there was nothing.
So, this pattern has a cable pattern done over 8 rows, where the actual cable is done on rows 3 & 7. The 2nd mistake was on a 'increase this way (from 44 sts to 144 sts) and continue in established pattern' type of row..... After trying it, frogging, trying it again, and frogging it again, I realized that it wasn't working because of a mistake! So, out comes the pad of paper and it literally took me half an hour to figure out the correct increases and pattern continuation to work this portion of the sweater. So, I go back to the 'contact us' area and again advise them of the other mistake. It's been almost 2 weeks and I've not heard back, nor have they corrected the pattern. I'm wondering if they even care?

Anyway, the sweater was finished last night. And I've set it up for blocking today. I've even taken a picture. I'm hoping this works as I've never blogged an image before. Here goes!

Sherbet Baby set


Yeah! It worked!

This set has a blanket, which I've started working on as well, but I don't think it'll be ready in time for her shower. Hopefully for the birth visit!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Knitting

Not sure if there is- anyone out there who is interested, but I've started knitting again after a break of about a year.

I started with a 'Jean Greenhowe' toy for my youngest daughter. It was the Topsey Turvey 4 in 1 doll. It took me about a year to completely make it including all the accessories (the skirt hides the other dolls head, and the bonnet hides the 2nd face on each head) How cool is that?

Topsey Turvey doll
Topsey Turvey doll
Topsey Turvey doll



Then I finished a 'blackberry' hat that I was making for myself in a double strand of green yarn.
Then I did a beautiful scarf to match the hat.

Blackberry Beret

Then I gave it away to my eldest daughter. :o) (I'm just hoping that it gets used!)


I'm now creating some beautiful baby sets - just finished a sweater, hat and bootie set for my first niece who is due in a couple weeks!

And a good friend is due April 1, and I'm making her a sweater with a hood, booties, mitts and blanket set! The only problem is that the pattern has mistakes in it, and it is not a complete pattern..... (It's one of those that you need to do all the calculations for yourself before you can start knitting it!)

Anyway, I'll post some pictures here soon.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

My First Blog

So much has been happening lately, that I decided that I need somewhere to post, gripe, brag and just be me.

So, here I am. Feel free to stop by, have a tea, pull out some yarn or a good book and just relax and have a good time.

My blogs will about my life. My ups as well as my downs. My triumphs and my disappointments. But mostly it will just be a place to sit back and unwind. Because we all need somewhere to do that in today's hectic world.

So, all that being said..... a bit about me....

30 something married lady with 3 children. I have a very giving personality and always want to help out others. I love scary movies, and 'chick flicks'. I really enjoy reading fiction (horror and historical romance are my main favorites). I love knitting (toys are my favorite) and will post some of my projects on here at a later date. I am also quite the homebody, and as such, like to have some type of home based project on the go. Right now, I'm in the design stages of a complete bedroom makeover for my almost 11 year old son. (Last summer I did a complete bedroom transformation for my 8 year old daughter and it turned out fantastic!) I'm kind of a loner, and really only have a handful of real friends (as opposed to aquaintances, which I have tons of). I work as an Administrative assistant for about 7 years (the past 2 years as an Executive assistant) and am presently in the market for a new job. Interviews are a pain, I always get nervous trying to sell myself, but that's life, I guess.

Ok, that's it for my first post. I'm going to go and knit for awhile before starting dinner.

See you later :)